Decisions to Make
by cecilia ann
Summary: No one ever accused Alex Rider of having it easy. Jack dieing messes Alex up in a way that no one could have imagined. So when he is sent back to camp to live until he either turns 18 or finally agrees to work for MI6 you can't blame him for what happens.
1. You Know the Feeling

**Okay you might have to bear with me here because this is my first story and all that. Go ahead and flame me. I'll probably need it. I don't have a beta so if you want to be mine just message me or something. Hopefully you'll like it.**

You know the feeling, like something bad is going to happen. That was the exact feeling that was in the pit of Alex Riders stomach on the third week back from training. He was sitting in homeroom when the phone rang. Alex didn't think anything of it. But when the teacher hung up with an annoyed expression on his face Alex got interested. And when Mr. Davis looked right at him he got nervous. The only thing he could think of was MI6. So when Mr. Davis said the office wanted to see him he walked there with dread.

"Ah, Alex how are you today?" asked Miss. Bedfordshire. She had always liked Alex though nobody knew why. But the person standing in front of her desk was the person that really got Alex's attention. He could tell it was an MI6 agent and he knew he would have no option but to go with him.

"Fine." Said Alex.

"You forgot your dentist appointment Alex." Scolded Miss. Bedfordshire without sting, "Good thing that Mr. Murphy here came to pick you up or you would have missed it."

"Yeah, good thing." Said Alex with sarcasm that was lost on her.

"Come along Alex." Said the agent _Mr. Murphy, Alex thought humorously _impatiently.

"Yeah okay Murphs. Just let me get my things." Said Alex, almost laughing out loud at the look Agent Murphy game him.

When Alex and Agent Murphy, _if that was even his real name Alex thought_, finally got going, with as much time wasting as possible on Alex's part, Alex became a whole new person. The person MI6 people were used to seeing. Cold, aloof, graceful, emotionless, and dangerous.

"I guess you're not going to tell me what you guys want, are you?" asked Alex.

"You shall wait until you see Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones." Said Agent Murphy equally emotionless as Alex had been.

It was an awkward car ride the Royal and General Bank but finally they got there. Alex hopped out of the car without waiting for the agent and went straight to the elevator without stopping at the front desk, much to recipients displeasure. Right when he was about to knock of Mr. Blunts door Mrs. Jones came down the hallway and called out to him.

"This better be good." He stated with no greeting and walked into Mr. Blunts office.

Though not showing it on his face he was surprised he saw the Sergeant from Brecon Beacons there.

"Like I told Mr. Jones, this better be good. First you pull me out of school after only three weeks of being back and then you guys aren't even ready for me when I come." Exclaimed Alex not bothering to be polite in the company of these people.

"Trust me Alex, we had a perfectly good reason to pull you out of school today." Said Blunt, as always emotionless. But Alex thought he caught something there, was it regret? No, it couldn't be. Now thoroughly confused Alex sat down and waved a hand, gesturing him to explain everything. But instead of Blunt talking it was the Sergeant who spoke.

"I don't think I need to be here for this, Alan." He said nervously.

"Yes you probably shouldn't, David." Intervened Mrs. Jones quickly, as she saw that Mr. Blunt was going to argue. _Ha, thought Alex, Mrs. Jones has Blunt on a leash!_ As the Sergeant was leaving the room he looked at Alex. It was the same expression he thought he had seen on Mr. Blunts face a little while ago. It was getting more and more odd.

As soon as he left the room Mr. Blunt said "We are sorry to inform you that as of 11:47 this morning Miss. Jacqueline Starbright died by a bullet through the head from a Scorpia assassin."

Alex didn't even see the disapproving look that Mrs. Jones sent Blunt at being so, well, blunt about the matter. All he could think about was the sentence that Blunt had just spoken. _We are sorry to inform you that as of 11:47 this morning Miss. Jacqueline Starbright died by a bullet through the head from a Scorpia assassin._

Emptiness. That was all that he felt. He figured that the pain would come later when he was least expecting it. Just like it had with Ian's death. _We are sorry to inform you that as of 11:47 this morning Miss. Jacqueline Starbright died by a bullet through the head from a Scorpia assassin. _Again and again the sentence ran through his head. He just couldn't believe it. Jack had always been there. After his missions, school, fights, anything. Alex could always tell her anything…well not about the missions but mostly anything. He felt like crying, but he refused to do that when he was in the company of these people.

"I want to see her." He said tiredly.

"I don't…" started Mrs. Jones.

Alex would have been surprised that it was Mr. Blunt this time that interrupted Mr. Jones…that is if he wasn't so numb.

"No, Tulip let Alex see her." He said.

They stopped outside the door of the morgue.

"Go on it Alex." Said Mr. Blunt softly.

_There she was, _Alex thought_, pale and dead. She really was always there for me wasn't she? _He touched her cold, lifeless hand and then leaned down to brush her fiery red hair away from her face. As he was doing that he touched his lips to her forehead. But pulled back quickly because he couldn't stand the touch of her skin that was so different than that warm and comforting feeling from when she was alive. He backed away after that, content from watching her from afar for awhile. So he just stood there thinking about all the good times they had together. Standing there he mourned in the way he thought that Jack would like...silently crying. She would never be there again. At least MI6 didn't beat around the bush and told him out rite that she was dead. He felt broken. Realizing that he had no one else in the world to trust to look over him was a scary feeling. He felt guilty now. He had always thought that she would be there for him and now figuring out that she wouldn't…well he didn't know what to do. After he was done he made a promise to himself that he wouldn't cry again until he had time to mourn for Jack the right way. But for now he had to figure out what was going to happen to him.

**Please Review…even if it is to tell me it sucks :) **


	2. You can be my Friend

**Okay when I used to read stories on this thing and the authors were all like 'omg I'm so happy I love you all.!!!' Because they go reviews I was all 'okayy…there like weird.!' But now I'm all 'Wow I know what they feel' cus I got 11 reviews in one day!!! I won't say I love you cus I don't…I just love your actions :) haha…and about the title…yeahh…I DID spell it wrong but I DIDN'T mean to. You have no idea how stupid I feel! Thanks Trisha for pointing that fact out to me…and someone asked if this was going to be slash. No it's not I don't know how to write that stuff and I'm not into it either. But I have nothing against those who are…it's just how you are so more power to you!**

**oh and about the name David…well it just came to me and I used it. And I have great things planned for David and Blunt.!!! But no slash.**

They were all back in Blunt's office. The Sergeant was there with him. Alex was keeping a firm check on his feelings. Not letting any show so that they won't think of him as weak.

"Let's get this over with." Said Alex, "What's going to happen to me now that Jack's…not with me anymore?"

He couldn't quite bring himself to say that she was dead yet. Mrs. Jones and Sergeant exchanged looks. Like they knew he wouldn't like what was going to happen. Come to think of it he probably wasn't going to like it but at the moment he couldn't have cared less.

"You're going to live at Brecon Beacons. At least until you're no longer under our guardianship. Or until you agree to work as a full agent." Said Blunt as always, bluntly. **(I love doing that(: )**

They all looked at Alex to see his reaction. Alex thought it over.

_At least I won't have to go to an orphanage or boarding school. And there I can actually act who I am and not pretend to be a little boy. But I will have to hide stuff…like my missions and what I can do. But they will treat me like an insignificant little twerp. And over all…I guess it's not that bad of an option._

"All right I'll go. When do I leave?" He could tell that they weren't expecting that answer because they all looked at him in surprise…well at least they looked as surprised as they can given the fact that Blunt and Jones don't really show that much emotion.

This time it was the Sergeant that answered saying, "You are leaving immediately to go to your home to get the things that you need. No clothes are necessary because the SAS will provide the clothes you need to train. You will be training with K-Unit again until they have to leave. You will not hold back and we will teach you anything that you don't know already." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts and then continued. "I understand that you did training with this department about a month ago?"

"Yes, I will forward you the file in a couple of days." Said Mrs. Jones.

"Well then Alex a driver will take you to your house and then to the airport. It should only take you twenty minutes to gather your things." The statement was made by Blunt and it was more of an order than a statement.

So Alex went with the driver. It was sad leaving the house that had been his home for fourteen years. But it was just another change that was necessary to survive. He did regret leaving his home but he figured that once he got out of the SAS camp then he could just make a new one, one without all the bad memories of his past life with MI6. But then he remembered something that Mr. Blunt said earlier about him staying at Brecon Beacons until they weren't his guardians anymore or he agreed to be an agent.

_God, Alex thought, things keep getting more and more difficult._

He wanted to have a normal life but then again he didn't know if he could live with having a normal life. He had already seen and done so much that he would probably be bored with doing things normal people did. Even after three weeks of being back in school he had already gotten half of his studies caught up and was almost bored with those classes. He heaved a sigh of frustration. He couldn't think about this now not when Jack was just recently dead and he was being shipped…well flown actually, but that's not the point, he was going to bloody Brecon Beacons. But to tell the truth he was looking forward to it because he was tired of not being challenged.

_Stop thinking about it. He scolded himself._

He got some pictures of him, Jack, Ian, Tom, and Sabina. Some souvenirs from when Ian went on 'business trips' were also added to his bag. It only took ten minutes to do all that and he was about to walk down the hallway to go when he noticed that Jacks door was open. He walked inside and sat on her bed, just breathing in the scent that was still there. He looked around…everything was in its place. He walked to her dresser and took the pictures of him and her from on the top and he took her perfumes and her favorite necklace that he and Ian had gotten her for her birthday eight years ago. It was her first birthday with them. When he got all the things he wanted from her dresser he went to sit on the bed. And while he was sitting there he thought back to the first time he had met Jack.

_Flashback_

_Ian had told him he was going to get a housekeeper. He tried not to pout because Ian couldn't help but laugh at him when he did pout. He knew what that meant. _Ian thought that he needed someone to babysit him when he went away on business trips, Alex thought bitterly, hadn't he always done a good job of taking care of himself? Even Uncle Ian had told him so. It wasn't fair! Well he was going to make her life hell!

_Alex looked quickly around, as if someone had heard his thoughts, he knew he wasn't supposed to say that word. Or any of those bad words that Ian said on numerous occasions. He remembered Ian had once said that Alex could put him in the naughty corner if he heard his Uncle Ian saying those words. Alex had shrieked with laughter at the time because he knew that his uncle was just kidding with him. But it was a funny image to think of…his big, tall Ian sitting in that teeny tiny chair with his face towards the wall hunched over like a little delinquent. Alex snorted with laughter. Ian glanced over at him with a small smile._

"_Miss. Starbright should be here any second." He said._

_Alex hoped it would be this second…his Uncle Ian had always said that patience was not always his strong point. Right at that moment a blue car (Alex didn't know what kind) pulled into the driveway. From Alex's view at the window he could see a pretty young woman step out of the car, go around to the trunk, pull out two suitcases, and then she almost skipped up the walkway to the door. But before she could ring the bell Alex ran to the door and opened it. She was so surprised that she screamed out loud and Alex being Alex had laughed. _

_She was pretty, he noticed while studying his from his position at the door, too bad that Ian told him he was too young to have a girlfriend…Vanessa had been mad at him when he had to tell her he couldn't bring her Ian's chocolate anymore. She also had red hair that was like fire. It was too, too bad he couldn't play with it…Ian told him never, ever to play with fire. _

"_You must be Alex." She said. And right away he could tell that he would have to try extra hard not to like her._

"_No, my name is Gustafson and I am the family's butler. May I take your bags?" He said this with a deep voice and a perfectly straight face._

"_I like you already!" She said smiling. _

_Damn, he looked around again; not liking her was harder than he thought! _

"_We're going to be just like brother and sister!"_

_Okayyyy, Alex thought, that's taking it a little too far._

"_No. You will not be my sister." _

_Finally Ian showed up and invited her inside. They ate the dinner that Ian had made. Then Alex went up the stairs with Jack, as she had insisted they call her, to show her the room she would be staying in. As he was turning to go he looked at her and then decided something._

"_You can't be my sister…but you can be my friend if you want to." He hated to he sounded unsure about it. But it ended up that he didn't have to worry because she smiled._

"_I'd like that Alex."_

_And they both went to bed happy with what had happened today._

_**I don't know about the flashback. You tell me.**_


	3. Reactions

James was angry, no he was pissed…you know, scratch that. He was smack down furious. First a bullet grazes his arm, leaving a slight chunk of skin missing, and because of that he and his entire unit get sent back to Brecon Beacons to recuperate. All because of a small wound. And to a guy like James serving in the SAS was one of the most important things in his life. So yeah, he had a reason to be furious. Then to top it all off he could tell something was wrong.

_I mean come one, who would pull out one of the best units out here just because of a little tiny wound? Thought James skeptically._ He wasn't being cocky…they were the best unit out there.

So when they were all called to the Sergeants office he wasn't surprised at all. They being Collin, Zack, Carl, and himself. Carl was new to the unit. He was Collins brother…younger and he always got mad at them when they would tease him and bout it.

_But he a good guy and they all got along well enough…well except when Zack and Carl were playing 'Go Fish'. They always go __**so**__ competitive. James thought with a fond smile on his face, Snap out of it man!_

He put on his best fierce face on. That he used around everyone except his family and his unit…who pretty much was his family.

As they were walking to the Sergeants office they saw a helicopter landing in the airstrip. They saw two people get out, one shorter and the other taller, they stood for awhile and then the shorter one moved one. He was heading in the same direction as them but James, Collin, Zack, and Carl got there way before the other person. They walked into the building and the Sergeants secretary motioned for them to go in.

**Back to Alex.**

He had seen a unit which he had assumed was K-Unit when he got off the plane. But you know what people say about assuming…it makes an ass of you and me. But he couldn't just pass up this opportunity of being unwatched. So he headed over to his old barracks. Sure enough K-Unit was still living there, but thankfully not there. So Alex just looked around…but touched nothing. The bed closest to the door was empty; he figured that was his bed. He started from the left. That bed had a cell phone on it. The screen said the time, which was 6:30, and a name. James…one down three to go. The next bed had nothing on it, so Alex looked on the wooden bed poles and sure enough there was a caving on one of them. _Zack sleeps here._ James and Zack…two to go. The bed on the far wall, right across from the door looked by far the most promising. It had a letter that was signed _XOXO Mom._ Alex smiled evilly. But the only thing he figured out was his name Carl, he had a big brother named Collin, it was Carl's birthday, and that some person named Jonathan missed them both. The last bed, on the right wall had a file that was open. In it was a medical certification for the name of Collin Miers. Alex new Snake was the units medic, so Snake was Collin. Collin/Snake had a little brother named Carl/Something, who was Bens replacement. So that left Eagle and Wolf to match with James and Zack. Personally he thought Wolf was more of a James and Eagle was more of a Zack. All this spy work only took about ten minutes so K-Unit should be almost done being briefed. Since Alex had all he needed he headed towards the Sergeants office like he should have done at the beginning.

**Back to K-Unit.**

No one had ever said that the Sergeant beat around the bush and Wolf wasn't going to say it now. Right when they sat down the Sergeant had told them that Cub would be coming to join them again. Surprisingly Wolf didn't feel mad. Cub had gained a certain amount of respect from Wolf, not that Wolf would ever tell anyone. Kudu was looking confused. Wolf remembered that they never told him about Cub.

"Permission to explain Cub to Kudu Sir.?" Wolf said looking at Sergeant.

"Yes."

"Cub was a teenager that was with out unit for ten days about a year ago and he trained with us for the most part. And then I went on an assignment and found Cub there snowboarding down a mountain on an ironing board. No one here has heard of him since." Wolf explained. Kudu nodded that he understood.

"Now I don't have Cubs file yet but I am expecting it tomorrow. I will give it to you as soon as possible. He should be here soon so that we can discuss his schedule with us. Also Fox will be coming back for awhile also." The Sergeant said. He watched as the units faces lit up as he said the last sentence. Right at that moment his secretary knocked on the door.

"Agent Rider is here for you Sir." She said.

"Send him in." He replied.

As Alex walked in the door every eye was on him. He was uncomfortable but he didn't let it show. He saluted to the Sergeant.

"Permission to greet K-Unit?" He asked with something in his eye that the Sergeant couldn't place. Was it mischievousness? Maybe, after all he was a teenager.

"Yes." He said almost cautiously.

"James, how you doing? Haven't seen you since that time at Point Blanc…ahh those were the good old days weren't they?" Alex didn't give Wolf time to answer but by the look on his face Alex could tell that he wouldn't have been able to anyway because of shock. So he moved on to Eagle. "Zack! Looking good, looking good." Alex looked him up and down. " Maybe a little on the heavy side though. You should work out more." He smiled pleasantly. But they could tell it was far from pleasant. "Collin…my, my you have grown up haven't you? I heard about you certificate. Congratulations, though I can't say I'm surprised. Always knew you were a good medic." Finally Alex turned to Carl. "I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting. And no doubt these people," He shoved a thumb in the rest of the units' direction, "have just told you about me. But never fear. I know who you are. Carl. I have a feeling that we will be great friends. Oh. Happy birthday by the way, sorry I didn't have the time to send you a card. I was pretty busy." And with that he plopped down on a chair and looked innocent. Waiting for the explosion to happen. He wasn't far off. The explosion did happen. Everyone, except the Sergeant, started talking at once. That is until Wolf silenced them with his hand.

"Cub, how did you know all our names?" He demanded. He didn't get the answer he wanted. The only response he got from Cub was a tap on the nose. It was then that the Sergeant spoke.

"I have no doubt that you will have time to interrogate Cub later but right now we need to figure out Cubs schedule."

Cub raised his hand.

"What?" The Sergeant almost snapped.

"There's no need to do that. I already have my schedule." Alex said handing him a sheet of paper. The Sergeant ran his eyes over the sheet.

"How did you get this?" He asked.

Again Alex just tapped his nose. The Sergeant gave Alex a disgruntled look.

"Fine. And I presume you know that Fox is going to come also and help you with your school studies?"

At this Alex looked genuinely surprised. "No I wasn't told that. When is he getting here?" Alex asked almost excitedly.

"He should be here within a couple of minutes." He said after looking at his watch. " Is there anything else that we should know about you that concerns your training?"

"No." Alex answered shortly.

The Sergeant raised his eyebrows at that, but didn't say anything further because once again his secretary knocked, entered, and announced that Fox was here.

"Ben!"

"Alex!"

Everyone was shocked, again, when Alex stood up and hugged Ben and they were even more surprised when Ben hugged Alex back.

"How've you been? I mean since three weeks ago? Have you kept up your exercises? Your pills? Have you been taking them everyday?" Ben rattled off a few more questions about school and when he got to Jack everyone was shocked, yet again, when Alex's face closed off and got cold. They had all thought that he was just an obnoxious teen who like to bother people with his knowledge. But when this happed they had even more questions in his mind for him.

"I'm fine. Yes, everyday I do my exercises. I still have my pills, taking them once every two days because the pain has worn down. And before you ask, yes the doctor approved."

K-Unit noticed that he didn't answer the question about this Jack person. And that Fox didn't say anything else about it. Finally Fox looked beyond Cub and saw his old unit. He smiled.

"I don't really need to greet you guys with a hug do I? Since I only saw you guys last week."

"No, you don't." Said Wolf quickly since he saw Fox advancing toward him.

"Sir." Fox said, saluting to the Sergeant.

"Fox." He replied. "I believe you've already been briefed, is that correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Good then you are all dismissed. Cub, here is your schedule."

They all saluted and then left. But right when Alex was about the leave he saw something that made him freeze in place. On the Sergeants desk was a name plate. _Sergeant D. Blunt. _To say Alex was shocked was an understatement. But then again Mr. Blunt had called the Sergeant by his first name at the Bank. David if he remembered correctly, which he had no double he _did_ remember correctly.

"Is there a problem Cub?" The Sergeant asked, having noticed that he had stopped.

His question then caused the rest of K-Unit and Fox to stop too.

"You're related to Blunt?" Alex asked, amazed.

"I guess you're not all knowing like we thought you to be, are you?" He replied. But then said, "Yes, Alan is my cousin." He couldn't see how this information could hurt him.

Alex just shook his head. _Things just keep getting weirder. Alex thought. The next thing I we know cows'll be falling from the sky!_

He saluted again and left the room with the rest of K-Unit and Fox.

This was the part that Alex was dreading. Being alone with K-Unit. Sure he acted like a happy over obnoxious teen in the office but that's not how he really was. He had had his fun in the office, now he decided to be as closed off as possible.

"What pills?" Snake surprised him by saying. Alex would have expected the question to be about how he knew all there names and how he knew about his brothers birthday, but no it was about the pills. He should have figured that, after all Snake was the groups medic.

"My pills." Alex answered.

"For what?" Snake asked.

"Myself."

"Where on yourself?"

"My body."

"Where on your body?"

"My skin."

Snake would have kept asking questions until he got his answers but stopped when he heard a snort of laughter from behind him. He turned around and saw that they all looked innocent but that Kudu looked a little too innocent. Snake glared at him.

"What?" Kudu asked.

"Shouldn't we get going to the barrack since we have an early day ahead of us?" Alex asked, taking advantage in the lull of questions.

"Yeah, we probably should" Fox said helping Alex out.

"Fine. But don't think that we're just going to let this all pass."

"Let all what pass?" Fox asked curiously, forgetting that he was supposed to help Alex out of being questioned.

"Like how he knew all our names, like how he knew it was Kudus birthday, like how he knew Kudu was Snakes little brother, like how he made a schedule for himself when he didn't even know what things are available to him!" Eagle exclaimed. Which was surprising them all thought, except for Alex because he didn't really know Eagle, considering he was the units chatter box. The rest of the unit nodded in agreement to what Eagle said.

"That is impressive, Alex. You've only been here what, and hour?" Asked Fox looking amused. "I knew you were good but you really are a fast operator aren't you?"

"But of course Ben. What would you expect?" Before Fox had the time to answer Alex asked, "I should probably call you Fox shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, probably."

"How do you guys know each other?" Wolf asked.

"Ben, sorry _Fox__**, **_was on my last mission and he helped me train." Alex answered.

Wolf looked to Fox for confirmation, as if he didn't trust Alex…which he probably didn't, Fox did just that.

"Well let's get going then; we're wasting time just standing here." Kudu said.

As they were walking they saw other units, if Alex remembered correctly…which he probably did, was C-Unit and B-Unit. C-Unit walked by first. Hello's were said and then they were on there way. But Alex saw that they turned around again to look at them. They were understandably curious, one ex-SAS man and a teenager that looked familiar were walking with one of the best units they had. It was very confusing. But at least they didn't ask questions. That couldn't be the same with the next unit they passed, which was also understandable. But Alex couldn't shake off the feeling that he had seen these men recently.

"Wolf, Snake, Eagle, Kudu." A man who Alex thought was name Frog greeted. He was obviously there leader.

"Frog, Badger, Coyote, Mink." Wolf greeted back, confirming Alex's suspicions about Frog's name. "How was America?"

"Good, though we weren't really in America. We went on a training exercise with them of the coast of Australia." Frog said.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit! They were there. When I came down from space. I can't let them tell K-Unit or Fox. Especially Fox, if he finds out he'll freak! Alex thought frantically. _He subtly moved behind Fox, hoping that they would forget about him. When Fox shot Alex a questioning look he shook his head and mouthed _later._ Fox nodded and then shifted his weight so that Alex could be hidden better.

"Fox, how are you doing since you transferred to…MI6 wasn't it?" Mink asked.

"Fine, but the company is better here." Fox said with a smile.

"I'm not surprised." Badger said. "Their own family could be shot right in front of them and they wouldn't even care."

"Cub here's from M…" Eagle started, but was cut short when Fox stepped on his foot…hard.

But the damage was already done.

"Cubs here?" Asked Coyote. He exchanged a significant look with Frog.

"'Course he's here. Can't you see him?" Kudu asked. Looking around he saw Cub hiding behind Fox. Cub shot him a nasty glare…it was as bad as Wolf's glare.

"There he is. Hiding behind Fox!" Eagle announced happily, apparently not getting the warning that Fox had just given him. So Alex had no choice but to step out from behind Fox.

"I wasn't hiding. I've been there the whole time." Alex said quietly. Hoping that B-Unit wouldn't recognize him. But no, of course they recognized him. Because he heard them all take in a sharp breath.

"I TOLD YOU!" Coyote shouted to Frog. "I told you Alex Rider and Cub were the same people! You owe me a tenner." He held his hand out. Frog slapped it away.

"I'll give it to you when we get back to out barrack." He said. "The more important question is…" He was interrupted by Snake.

"Wait. Your last name is Rider?" He asked excitedly.

"Yes." Alex said cautiously. But he was glad that Snake interrupted Frogs sentence.

"The same family as John and Ian Rider?"

"Yes." Alex said shortly. He didn't want to get into a conversation about his dead father and uncle.

Fox, sensing that Alex didn't want to talk about it asked Frog what he was going to say. Alex actually groaned out loud. He knew Fox was trying to help but he was only making it worse.

"Oh. Yeah I was going to say that the question is why was he is space." He looked at Alex expectantly.

"In space?" Fox asked in a deadly whisper after there was a shocked silence on K-Units part.

"Yeah, in space. The Americans got the red alert when we were on the coast of Australia. They took care of him until we landed in Australia and he was supposed to come back to America with us but he never did." Mink answered.

"So that's why you were in Bangkok. The ASS recruited you and you couldn't say no because you were on there land?" Fox said. Alex was surprised that Fox hadn't said anything else about the space thing but he figured he would get it later. Alex decided to tell Fox the truth.

"I could have said no." He said quietly.

"The why didn't you?"

"Because of Ash."

"Oh." And then it dawned on Fox. "He was the man, wasn't he?"

K-Unit and B-Unit had no idea what Fox and Alex were talking about. But Alex did. Fox was referring to the man that he shot.

"My godfather?" When Fox nodded, Alex said, "Yeah it was."

"God, I'm sorry Alex." Fox said sadly.

"It wasn't your fault, Ben." Alex said sincerely.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Wolf demanded. He didn't like not knowing what was going on.

"Nothing." Alex and Fox said at the same time.

"Fine don't tell us, but we'll get it out of you." Said Kudu. Alex knew what he was doing, he was giving him a way out. Alex took it.

"I believe that we were on our way to get some sleep." Alex said. "B-Unit, nice to see you again. It was lovely talking to you. Good day."

He started walking away but Frog pulled him back. Reacting on instinct Alex grabbed the arm that was holding him, spun around and had Frog in a choke hold before you could say 'space'. Alex blinked, he was surprised that his reaction had been that fast but he wasn't surprised that he had done that. It was the same with K-Unit and B-Unit. Only they were also surprised that he had done that and that he had managed to actually do it. Frog was known to be one of the best fighters.

"Sorry." Alex said and let him go.

"That's okay. I probably shouldn't have done that. But you didn't answer our question."

"Which was?" Asked Alex, trying to buy time.

As if sensing that Frog said, "About what you were doing in space."

"Well what do you think I was doing in space?"

"I don't know. That's why we asked you."

"Fine I'll tell you." Alex took a deep breath. "I was saving the world from a crazy man who wanted to blow up the Pentagon with a hotel that was in space." He said all this with a straight face and was hoping that they would think he was kidding. It didn't work for Fox because he had seen him working on a mission and knew what he was capable of and what people asked him to do. Wolf, even though he had seen him at Point Blanc he thought that that was a one time thing, Kudu, Snake, Eagle, Frog, Badger, Mink, and Coyote all thought that he was kidding.

"Fine, don't tell us what you were doing up there. But like Kudu said we'll get it out of you." Frog said.

"You'll try." Alex replied with a smirk.

"Can we pleaseee get back to the barrack? I'm so tired!" Whined Eagle.

"Yeah, let's go." Snake said. "See you guys tomorrow."

When they got to the barrack Alex saw that there was one more bed squished into the cabin that wasn't there before when he was searching there.

"When did the extra beds get put in?" Alex asked casually, hoping that no one would find it odd that he was asking.

"Around 6:45 when I came here." Fox answered him.

_So I left just in time. Five more minutes and I would have been caught. Alex thought._

"I'm going to bed." Alex said.

They all nodded. So Alex climbed into bed. But he didn't go to sleep until everyone else had been sleeping for awhile. _I should go to sleep. I have a big day tomorrow. Alex thought sleepily._ And so he slept.


	4. Filling in the Pieces

**mkayy i'm not really sure about this chapter. I might change it in the future. So don't get too attached to it :). But anyway tell me what you think. I hope you like it.**

Alex was surprised when he woke up that night. Not that he woke up, but what made him wake up. It was a nightmare but this one was different. It wasn't as bad as the nightmares he used to have at home and on his other missions. He was also surprised that it was already 4:00. Usually he woke up at about 2:30 or 3:00. Not that he was complaining that he got more sleep or that his nightmares were better. But he was confused. What had triggered in his mind that made his night more durable this night. He would have thought that the nights would have been worse. He thought about it for awhile, just lying in bed. There was only one reason he could think of. It was that he felt safe here. With Ben back and…well maybe not with K-Unit. So instead of trying his luck he went outside quietly, sat down in the woods but close enough to the open that he could see what was going on, and started to meditate.

He had started to meditate when he was doing his martial arts training at Mologusto. His master had said that it would help his energy and keep him awake for the rest of the day should he wake up early. Thankfully he only needed four to five hours of sleep. So he usually spent the rest of the mornings meditating like he was doing now. Once he saw that his units cabin was starting to awake from there slumber he headed towards it. As he walked in he saw that Ben was hovering over his bed.

"Where were you?" he asked.

"I had to go pee." Alex said simply.

Ben let it drop but still looked suspicious but he couldn't really say anything because Alex looked like he had had a goods night sleep.

"Then you can help me wake up the rest of these great lumps."

"Fine by me." Alex said carelessly.

While Ben_ Fox. Alex mentally corrected himself._ Woke up Eagle Alex thought it was the safest to wake Snake up. He was right, all he had to do was shake him a little bit and he was wide awake.

"You can wake up Kudu." He said. Alex smiled gratefully, he had been dreading having to wake Wolf up. He looked over to see Be-_Fox_ still trying to wake Eagle up. Alex did the same thing he did to Snake as he did to Kudu. And thankfully Kudu woke just as easily as Snake. So far everyone was up except Eagle. Finally Fox had to take desperate measures. He yanked Eagles pillow and blanket away and pulled him off of his bed. Finally Eagle got up looking at Fox accusingly.

"You didn't have to do that you know." He stated.

"What else was I supposed to do, wait until the Sergeant found you missing?" Fox asked.

"Fine, maybe you did have to do that. But it's not my fault! I kept waking up thinking I heard something or someone thrashing and murmuring." Eagle explained.

Before Eagle or anyone else could say anything Alex said, "We should probably get to breakfast because the Sergeant wants to see us afterwards."

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Said Eagle.

So they all headed to breakfast and surprisingly they saw no other units as they had last night. And for that Alex was grateful. But the same could not be said at the dining hall. As soon as they sat down with there mush, the same as Alex remembered from last time, a unit came up to there table. Alex assumed that they were new because he didn't recognize them and one look at Fox said that he didn't either. Alex could also tell that they were young and cocky by the way they walked and the way they greeted K-Unit.

"Ah, so the elders have returned to learn some more." The man whom Alex presumed was there leader said snidely.

"No we haven't." Said Wolf shortly. Alex could tell that he did not like them right away, as a matter of fact, neither did Alex.

"I suppose that makes sense. You can't teach an old dog new tricks." The nameless man replied.

"I'm sorry I don't think we've met." Fox said as politely as he possibly could when someone was insulting his old unit.

"No need to apologize, you may blame everything on Wolf here just as I do for not knowing why Brecon Beacons suddenly have two untrained idiots here." Nameless man said rudely.

Suddenly Alex couldn't take it anymore, he burst out laughing. He was laughing so hard that he was clutching his sides. By this time everyone who wasn't openly watching and listening to the confrontation was now.

"I don't see what's so funny." The man spat at Alex. Alex tried to get himself under control but when he saw the mans 'glare' he burst out laughing again.

"Alex…" Fox warned quietly because the man was starting to walk closer.

"Don't worry." Alex murmured to him before turning to the man. "I was laughing," He started in a clear voice, "because you insult like a school girl and your glares looks like you've just eaten a particularly sour lemon." Alex chuckled again. To his surprise so did everyone else in the unit. All the other units looked at each other doubtfully because they knew the kid was going to get beaten up. That is except for B-Unit who just looked gleeful because they knew a little bit about Alex and what he was capable of. Alex just looked bored now that he wasn't laughing.

"You think that you can talk to me like that?" Asked the man. Alex officially referred to him as Tubbsy, because he was a little bit on the tubby side.

"Umm, yeah actually I do." Alex said almost primly.

"Why, you little…" He didn't finish his sentence because he couldn't wait to get his hands on Alex. Alex, being the good spy he was, had observed him moving forward inch by inch since the discussion had started. Therefore he was ready when Tubbsy made his move. But Tubbsy wasn't ready for Alex not to be there and he defiantly wasn't ready for Alex to be the one attacking him. While Alex was finishing up with the man K-Unit and B-Unit looked on happily, almost like they wanted to clap there hands together like little children, looking like they themselves wanted to burst out laughing and the other units just looked shocked. K-Unit and B-Unit looked shocked too but more amused and elated than anything else.

Once the man was knocked out Alex turned to his unit and said, "If you'll excuse us _gentlemen_ we have a meeting with David." Alex purposely used the Sergeants first name to confuse everyone. Thankfully the unit moved out of there way. Once K-Unit had left they could hear everyone else gossiping about Alex. He suddenly had a mental image of them all sitting around a table drinking tea wearing big hats gossiping like common housewives. Alex carefully schooled his features so that they wouldn't see that he was amused.

"Whoa Cub, you got some skills!" Eagle exclaimed, bouncing up and down and walking backwards in front of Alex.

"Yeah, they come in handy too, as you could tell." Alex answered wryly. Thinking about all the times his fighting skill had saved his life.

"Were did you learn all that Cub?" Asked Snake.

But Alex didn't answer he just froze with a horrified look on his face.

"What? What's happening?" Asked Fox urgently.

"I just remembered something." Alex said unhelpfully.

"What?" Asked Kudu.

"Nothing, it's nothing." Alex said distractedly.

"Cub, you have to tell us if it's something important." Wolf said sternly.

"Fine." Alex sighed. "I just forgot that I have a library book that's over due. And I probably won't be able to return it for like four years." He finished sadly. He had planned it perfectly. He had distracted them from what he didn't want them to know and then when they got all worked up he had said something totally unimportant. They would be mad at him for a while for scaring them like that but at least they didn't know anything yet. As he expected they were pretty mad and no one knew what he had done except Fox who gave him an amused look telling him that he wasn't that mad. Eagle wasn't that mad either because he started laughing.

"That was a good one." He chortled.

"Let's go." Wolf said gruffly.

When they got to the Sergeants office they were all surprised to find not only the Sergeant but Mr. Blunt also. Alex's good mood vanished as soon as it came. He could never get away from this guy even when he was doing what he wanted. _Well not anymore. I'll make his life as difficult as possible. Alex thought evilly._

"Sit." The Sergeant said and they all dropped there arms and sat.

"Mr. Blunt is here to talk to Alex. So we will leave."

"No need Sergeant. This won't take very long."

The Sergeant nodded and they all sat down.

"I would like for you to tell me how you hacked our computers." Blunt told Alex.

"I have no idea what you mean." Alex said, looking at him innocently. "I mean how could I, a fourteen year old, hack the great MI6 computers?"

"I can imagine how you could have done it. And how you could have learned it." When Alex said nothing, Blunt went on. "Now I am forced to ask you if it was Sc…" He didn't get to finish his sentence.

"Yes! It was. I know what you're thinking and it was them. There's no reason to say the name. I don't want it spread around that I trained with them." Alex said almost desperately.

"Good, I'm glad that you have admitted to it. But what I don't understand is why you took the risk of someone finding out about it." The question was obvious in his voice.

"I wanted to see if I could do it." Alex explained.

"I see, and how long did it take you to do that?"

"A few hours, give or take." Alex replied to Blunts question.

There was a surprised silence in the room and then it turned to shock when Smithers barged in.

"A few hours?! A few hours?! You hacked my system in only a few hours?!" Alex wasn't sure if he was mad, sad, excited, or annoyed. Maybe a combination of the four.

"Yes that's what I said. Only if I would have gone deeper in and if I would have stayed in your computer and not gone into the Brecon Beacons network them it would have taken at least a few more hours." Alex said demurely.

"Oh. Well that makes me feel better." Smithers said almost sarcastically if Alex wasn't mistaken.

"Well what do you want me to say?" Alex asked exasperated.

"I want you to tell me all that you did on Mol…" Blunt started.

"Okay! You don't have to say it. I know what you're talking about but the other people in the room don't and I don't want them to know either so shut up!" Alex almost yelled and everyone was surprised. No one had ever seen him that close to losing his temper. Except Blunt but that was a different matter entirely.

"Fine. I want to know all that you learned at that place…is that better?" Blunt asked.

"Yeah. I'll send you a report." Alex said, only half sarcastically.

"I want it next week at the latest."

"Okay." Alex said shortly.

Blunt turned away from Alex and nodded to everyone else in the room and then left. Smithers said goodbye to Alex and then left. Alex could tell that they were all amazed that he could have hacked MI6 computers. He could also tell that they were brimming with curiosity about were he learned it and why he didn't want anyone to know. He suspected that Ben _Fox_ had a slim idea of what they were talking about since with the Snakehead mission Alex was familiar with Scorpia. But he knew that Be_ Fox_ wouldn't tell anyone without his permission. So that was one less thing to worry about. The Sergeant dismissed Alex but asked K-Unit and B-_Fox_ to stay behind. Alex assumed that it was about him. Probably showing them his file. To tell the truth he was curious about what his file said. _Oh well. I can just get a hold of it later. Alex thought carelessly. _

With K-Unit, Fox, and Sergeant looking at Alex's file.

"I asked you to stay in here because when Mr. Blunt was here he dropped off Cub's file. He said that you had all been given access to read it." Sergeant said. If he was being honest to himself he would have admitted that he was excited about what this young teenager did that made him so important to MI6. So with out further ado he passed out copies to K-Unit and Fox for them to read. And then he himself read.

**Name: Alexander John Rider**

**Age: 14**

**Status: Available**

**Clearance: Level 3 out of 12**

**Health: Acceptable. See Scorpia file.**

**Fitness: Excellent**

**Schooling: learning year 13 curricula (two years ahead of grade level.)**

**Relatives/Relations:**

**-Helen Rider (Mother): Deceased**

**-John Rider (Father): Deceased**

**-Jacqueline Starbright (Caretaker, Friend): Deceased**

**-Anthony Sean Howell aka Ash (Godfather): Deceased**

**-Yassen Gregorovich (?, Assassin): Deceased**

**-Thomas Harris (Friend): Critical Health**

**-Sabina Pleasure (Friend): Critical Health**

**-Ben Daniels aka Fox (?, Agent): Available**

**Missions: See Files: Stormbreaker-success, Point Blanc-success, Skeleton Key-success, Eagle Strike-success, Wimbledon-success, Big Circle-success, Invisible Sword (Scorpia)-success, Ark Angle-success, Snakehead (Scorpia)-success-Clearance level 2 needed to see files.**

**Employed by: MI6, CIA, ASIS, and independently.**

**Languages: Mandarin, Hindi*, Spanish*, Portuguese, Arabic*, French*, Russian*, Japanese*, German*, Italian***

***Fluent.**

**Combat: Kung Fu*, Judo*, Karate*, Systema*, Tae Kwon Do, Maui Thai **

***Master. **

**Do not know Scorpia training.**

**Other: Classified.**

They all sat in stunned silence. Nine missions and they were all a success. They had heard of most of them. The computer scare. The school with the rich kid clones. The crazy Russian General with the nuclear bomb. The famous pop star wanting to make to world a 'better place'. The Wimbledon water poisoning and how the big circle was involved with it. And of course they had all heard of Scorpia. The hotel in space. And the big snakehead that just went down. They had no idea that Cub was behind all of those.

_That's not fair! He has a higher clearance level than us! Eagle was outraged._

……………………_Wolf was speechless._

_Yassen Gregorovich? How does Cub know him? Kudu was confused._

_Can't say I'm surprised. I always knew he was good. Fox was smug._

_This tells us nothing about what he can do and what's happened to him! And we don't have to clearance to see his missions file. Snake was pissed._

…………………………………_Sergeant was speechless._

_I wonder what's taking them so long. Alex was confused._

"I want you all to be careful around Cub." The Sergeant said. He could tell that he was dangerous as an enemy. And he didn't was the SAS as one of them. All he could do was hope that K-Unit would listen to his warning.

"Yes Sir." They all said in unison.

"Then you are dismissed. Make sure that Cub keeps up with you."

They saluted and left. They found Frog outside the door waiting to go in. When he saw them he looked guilty for some reason.

"Hey guys." Frog said uncomfortably.

"Frog." They said.

"Did you hear something?" Fox said bluntly. There were looks of comprehension on K-Units faces. They now understood why he looked so guilty.

"Yeah. You guys weren't exactly being quite in there about Cub being able to hack MI6 files." He stated.

"Shhh!" Fox hissed urgently. They looked around and they only saw the secretary and it hadn't looked like she heard.

"Sorry." Frog said. "It's not like I was eavesdropping it's just that I have really good hearing."

"Fine, just don't tell anyone. Okay?" Wolf growled.

"Yeah, but I'll have to tell my unit. We don't keep secrets like this from each other."

"Okay, but only them." Snake intervened before Wolf could disagree.

When Frog went into the Sergeants office K-Unit plus Fox went outside to find Alex still there.

"So did my file answer any questions?" Alex asked with a smirk on his face.

"Ye…Wait! How did you know we were looking at your file?" Asked Eagle.

"It's obvious. If it was a unit thing then I would have been involved. And if it wasn't my file you guys wouldn't be looking at me like I have two heads." Alex stated as if it was obvious.

"Oh." Said Eagle, not really knowing what to say next. Cub had a way of making people feel stupid.

"Come on we need to get to our first activity." Said Wolf, interrupting the conversation. Much to Alex's and Eagle's gratitude.

"What do we have?" Asked Fox.

"Shooting range. We should have had stealth but our meeting with the Sergeant made us miss it." Kudu said, as he was looking at there schedule.

Alex groaned. _Great, just great. More questions to answer when I beat their asses. Alex thought dejectedly._

Fox looked at Alex worriedly. He knew that the shooting range would bring up more questions than both he and Alex would like. But Alex just gave him a small smile that told him not to worry. Fox trusted Alex so he only worried a little bit. As they were walking to the shooting range Alex was lost in thought.

_I can't pretend to be sick. I could pretend not to know how to shoot a gun but then how would I learn or how would I get better? _Alex thought it all through and decided that he wouldn't pretend that he couldn't shoot a gun. He would do the best he could and then deal with all the questions afterwards. Maybe he could trick them in a different way.

Or maybe just scare them into not answering questions, but he didn't think that was likely because of Wolf. Or he could just flat out refuse to answer to questions. But he didn't think that Eagle would take no for an answer. They couldn't make him answer though. Alex decided to just take it as it comes. By the time he was done thinking they were already at the shooting range.

"Cub, this is Bear. Bear, this is Cub. Cub, Bear is in charge of the shooting range." Wolf did the introductions.

Bear was a short man. Almost plump. He could be called fat if he didn't have those loads of muscle. This was one man Alex would not cross willingly.

"I assume that you have never shot a gun before." Before Alex could answer Bear answered himself. "'Course you've never shot a gun before. Who in there right mind would let a teenager shoot a gun?" Again he answered his own question. "No one that's who. Even Scorpia wouldn't be that stupid to teach someone like you to shoot a gun."

Alex found himself almost going into shock when the man mentioned Scorpia.

"I can't image whom you are referring to." Alex said nervously.

Thankfully Bear didn't pick it up that Alex was nervous because he kept going on about how Scorpia was so bad. And on and on and on until Alex nearly thought that shooting practice would be over soon but then suddenly he stopped.

"Alright then, I suppose I'll have to help you."

"No, I have learned to shoot a gun." Alex said with a total 'duh' in his voice.

"Have you now? Well we'll just see how well you do then, won't we?" There was a hint of challenge in his voice that Alex just couldn't pass up.

"You sound like you don't believe me when I say that I know how to shoot a gun." Alex said, acting confused.

"Aren't you a sharp one? No, I don't believe you."

"Then let's make this more interesting. A tenner says that I'll surprise you."

"How do you know if I'll be surprised?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'll know." Alex said cockily.

Bear looked at him doubtfully. He gave Alex the gun, a rifle.

"I want you to take it apart and then put it back together, make sure that it's in running order. If you can't do that then I've already won the bet because if you can't take it apart you don't really know how to shoot." He spoke with passion about the gun. He was reminded about his training on Mologusto, how the instructors all talked like that too.

Alex took the gun apart and put it back together in two minutes tops. He looked at Bear. Alex could tell that Bear was surprised, though he hid it well. Bear motioned for Alex to take his place so he could shoot. Alex took his position. He took a deep breath and waited for the targets. It was like this every time he shot. The gun was a part of him. His face was cold and detached. He didn't care what the target looked like, as long as he hit the right spot. He didn't realize when the targets started getting smaller and then started moving faster. Every time he kept hitting the bull's-eye. He did notice thought that the targets started to become human shaped. Though he didn't care, he knew this was all a test. Probably thought up by Blunt himself. All he saw were the points were he had to shoot; the head, the chest, and the neck. He kept going, though in the back of his mind he dully realized that the shooting range was dead quite except for him shooting his gun. Though in his mind the front thought was MI6. He could see that the human shaped targets were becoming humans. Not real life humans but with faces and feelings on those faces. He recognized those faces. Harold Sayle, Mr. Grin, Nadia Vole, Dr. Grief, Eva Stellenbosch, General Sarov, Conrad, Damian Cray, Julia Rothman, Nile, Nikolei Drevin, Kaspar, Dr. Tanner. He kept shooting he didn't care who the faces belonged to just that he shot them in the right place. These people meant nothing to him. But then he saw the target of Ash. And he did something that even he didn't know he could do. He shot him in the head, chest, and neck all before the target moved on. The quite behind him was now eerily silent. Again Alex didn't notice. The thing he did notice was that Mrs. Jones picture came up. He shot. The quite was now suffocating. Ian Rider. Shot in the head without a second thought. Sabina Pleasure. In the chest. Tom Harris. Neck. Ben Danials, in the chest. Blunt, in the head. And then finally Jack Starbright. She was shot in the head. The silence harshly contrasted with the deep breathing of one Alex Rider. Word had gotten around that the 'kiddy' would be shooting with K-Unit today. No one had wanted to miss it. And no one did. Even Mr. Blunt, who had planned the whole thing, was not absent to see his teenage agent turn into cold-blooded agent. Alex turned around.

"You can keep the tenner." That was to Bear.

"It was nothing personal Ben." And when Blunt walked out of the room he was watching from it was a different story.

"I know it was a test. You knew that I would be able to do it. I did. I shot targets that looked like dead people. I shot targets that looked like my friends. I shot targets that looked like people I hated. I shot targets that looked like my family. I've passed your test. I doubt you thought that I would fail. Who would fail given the training that I have? Who would fail that test with the things that I've seen? No one would fail. I didn't fail. You didn't fail. You wanted me like this. A cold, heartless MI6 agent. Well congrats. You've just made me into what everyone but you fears. I hope you rot in hell." Alex said all this calmly, but with a deadly quality to it that even Blunt didn't say anything. He knew he had pushed Alex too far.

As Alex was leaving the shooting range Fox followed him. Fox knew better than anyone there what was happening to Alex.

"Alex wait up!" He called to the fastly disappearing teen.

"What B-Fox?"

"You wanna go on a run? We still have half an hour until our next class."

"Yeah, yeah I'd like that." Alex said gratefully.

Fox knew that Alex wouldn't want to talk to anyone about what had happened but he would want human comfort.

"I'll always be here for you Alex. Even if it's just for going on a run to cool down."

Alex looked at Fox appreciatively and then he started talking.

**idkk....review. thanks :)**


	5. Starting to Trust

"My parents died when a bomb blew up there plane. I went to live with my Uncle Ian. My father and Ian were both MI6 agents, the best at the time. When my uncle went on missions I would always have to fend for myself; cook the food, clean the house, get to school, and stuff like that. Then Jack came and she was like a sister to me. She was always there for me. But then Ian died. And everything went wrong." Alex paused and then told Ben about his missions. Skipping over most of the same parts that he had with Jack. But telling him a bit more since Ben wasn't a civilian. "And then you know the rest. I went to some more training and then I came here."

"But what I don't understand is why MI6 decided to send you here now. I mean why not when you weren't on missions?" Ben asked, this was the one part he was confused on.

"Jack died. Scorpia never forgets and never forgives. But this way they made it so that I could never forgive or forget either. When I get out of here I'll hunt all of them down. They gave me the skills to do that. They made me their worst enemy when they did that to Jack." Alex said all of this without emotion yet by doing that he expressed himself better. It was that that scared Ben the most. Not all of the things that Alex had done, though that scared him too, it was that he could talk about this with no emotion showing. He was trained well. The shooting range hadn't showed how well though and everyone else was in for a surprise when all of his training showed through. Part of him couldn't wait to see all there faces and see how wrong they had been about the teenager. But the other part was worried about Alex, how he would take all the whispers and the staring.

"I don't know why I told you all of this. I don't trust you enough to. But I do appreciate it. You being here to listen that is. And I hope you know that I look up to you as…as an older brother of sorts." Alex said all of this quietly as if he didn't want to be caught saying this.

Ben didn't know what to say. He knew that Alex didn't trust anyone all the way but to have Alex trust him just a little bit was a huge compliment and accomplishment.

"To tell the truth Alex, I was hoping you would say that because it would be weird to think of someone as a little brother without them feeling as if you were a big brother. And I'm glad that you trust me. You can always tell me anything you need to or if you just need someone I'll always be there too." Ben said sincerely, giving Alex a 'man hug'. They both moved away quickly though. They didn't want anyone to see their 'man hug'.

Alex looked at him gratefully. "We had better get to that lecture. What's it on again?"

"How to withstand torture or something like that." Ben said, probably a little gruffer than usual.

"Great." Alex mumbled. "Just what I needed."

"Something wrong?" Alex hadn't told him about the dissection part.

"No, nothing."

"Alright let's go before we're late."

So they jogged to barrack 7 were they encountered units K, B, C, and one he didn't know. _Great. The two units that I actually know and they're here. With the torture lecture. Alex thought. My luck couldn't be any worse._

"Now that Cub and Fox are here we can finally get started." A big man from the unit he didn't know said.

"Come on now Ox. It's not like we were late. In fact we got here just on time." Fox complained.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Now to start with I'm Ox, as most of you know, and I'll be doing the lecture today. So to start with let's see a show of hand of who's gotten tortured before." No one from K-Unit raised their hands. But Frog did. Alex didn't know if his narrow escapes of torture counted or if it didn't. But it sure felt like torture to him. As if sensing Alex's dilemma Ox said, "Well kid, what about you? You look confused. Is the question too much for you to handle?"

Alex was sick of being put down all of the time. But he didn't want to tell them about his near torture experiences. So he settled for a simple answer.

"I'm not sure what you mean by torture." He stated. Everyone looked at him like he was stupid. Except Fox who knew what he was talking about.

"Torture. Like being cut up or electrocuted and other stuff like that." Ox said speaking like he would to a four year old.

"Oh I know what torture is I'm just not sure if what happened to me would count in your book as torture." Alex said simply. "But I'm pretty sure it wouldn't. After all I didn't get cut up or electrocuted." Alex said sarcastically.

"Well why don't you tell us and then I can decide if you have been tortured. Or if someone was just tickling you." Ox said nastily.

"No I would rather not I think." Alex said egging him on.

"Too afraid to tell everyone that you think torture is your father taking your credit card away from you?"

"No. That would be heaven seeing as my father is dead." Alex said coldly.

"All right, all right. No need to hassle Alex Ox. He doesn't want to talk about it so he doesn't have to." Fox said plainly, sensing things were going too far. He said this with a subtle hint of threat in his voice. Everyone heard it except Ox, that is.

"Oh come on Fox. Don't tell me you aren't damn curious about this twits life and why he's here. 'Cus I know everyone else is. I was just wondering what he was talking about when he said he didn't know if he got tortured. I mean how can you not know if you've been tortured?"

"He already said he didn't know what your definition of torture is Ox. You explained it. He said he wasn't tortured by your standards. You hassled him. I intervened. This discussion is over. Please move on with the lecture." No one could deny that Fox was in the right so Ox grudgingly moved on with the lecture. Talking about how to withhold information and to tell half lies and all the things that Alex had already learned. Then was the part came were everyone told everyone about how they distract or withhold information from people. They ranged from half lies to not even talking but then they got to Alex.

"Well kid? How do you withhold information?" Ox sneered. Everyone was interested in spite of themselves. And all unconsciously leaned toward Alex to hear his answer.

"Well I usually annoy the hell out of them." Alex said truthfully. "Until they're so annoyed that they mess up and I can escape."

"And that actually works?" Ox asked, highly skeptical.

"Well yeah. It's usually all I have." Someone snorted disbelievingly Alex didn't know who.

"So if I was to put a knife up to your throat and threaten to torture you…you would do what?" Ox said and then lightening fast he grabbed one of the demonstration knives and went at Alex.

But all Alex saw was someone coming at him with a knife. So he reacted. Rather wonderfully in everyone's opinion, except for Ox's that is. Alex grabbed Ox's wrist and twisted it so that the knife fell out of his hand. Still holding his wrist he kneed his gut and while Ox was going down so was Alex. But not because he got hit but to get the knife. As fast as you can blink it was all over with Alex holding a knife to Ox's scared shitless throat.

"But you wouldn't put a knife to my throat and threaten to torture me, now would you Ox?" Alex asked menacingly. To be honest Alex was impressed at how fast Ox moved.

Before Ox could answer there was a loud, shrieking whistle signaling the end of whatever people were doing and to move on to the next thing. Unless, that is, you had a double activity which, thankfully, he didn't have. So before anyone could say anything Alex left. Though unfortunately he forgot his schedule inside so he didn't know where he was going. So he had to wait for K-Unit and Fox.

_You know I'm kind of tired of saying K-Unit and Fox. I'll just call them Cuf. _Alex thought in one of his rare moments of teenage humor. For some reason he thought it was the funniest thing he had thought or even heard all day long; which it probably was.

"Cub!" Eagle shouted, as he bounded down the steps of the lecture house, drawing everyone's attention to himself as usual. "That was awesome in a really freaky way. I mean one second that big guy, Ostrich or something like that, was yelling and then you had him down! I think you're my new hero." Eagle finished solemnly, looking at Cub reverently.

"Ostrich?" Alex asked, highly amused. "I like it. But who's your old hero?" Alex wondered.

"Zebra. This one guy from G-Unit." Eagle looked around to see if anyone was looking, which they all were, so he lowered his voice and whispered in Alex's ear, "He taught me how to cheat in cards. Now no one can beat me." Eagle confined.

Alex raised his eyebrows. He had been taught the 'Art', as one of his teachers called it, of cheating at cards on Mologusto. He was pretty sure that he could beat Eagle. So he told him so. Then everyone had their eyebrows raised. Most of them had played cards with Eagle at least once and they had all lost.

"Oh reealllly, little Cub? Wanna see if you can?" Eagle asked. Even a deaf person could hear the challenge in his voice.

"Name the time and place and then we'll see." Alex said, just as cockily as Eagle.

"On the field at dawn, bring a second. Mines Wolf. Who's yours?" Eagle exclaimed dramatically. At the incredulous looks he was being given he said defensively, "I was just kidding! Tonight at dinner so everyone can see me kick your ass."

That night at dinner it was louder than before with people making bets on how bad Alex would lose. At the K-Unit table the atmosphere was light with Alex and Eagle bantering back and forth about there card game. The rest of the unit were watching them like a tennis match, having already placed their bets already. They were all amused, even Wolf, thought he wouldn't admit it.

"Alright then!" Alex exclaimed after awhile. "Is this how you get people to lose? Psyching them out? 'Cus it's not going to work on me. So let's get this over with already."

"Fine. I just thought that you would like a little bit more time with your dignity before we start." Eagle said mockingly.

"How considerate of you to be thinking of my dignity when yours is the one at stake here. How selfless you are." Alex replied, just as mockingly as Eagle.

"Are you guys going to sit here all night and talk or are you going to play cards?" Wolf asked impatiently, wanting to collect his money from Fox, who had been the only one who had bet that Cub would win, and get to bed.

"Yeah alright." Eagle turned to the entire room. "Oi! Does anyone have any cards?"

After the cards were produced Eagle had some random guy shuffle the cards and deal them. Card after card was played. Neither Alex's nor Eagle's face showed anything about what was in their hand. Everyone was watching Alex and Eagle closely to see if they could see them cheating. But of course like masters neither of them showed any signs of cheating. Finally Alex looked Eagle in the eye and laid down his cards.

"You can take the cards out from your pants now Eagle." Alex said.

Eagle looked shocked to say the least. No one had ever beaten him in cards especially someone this young, 14 if he remembered correctly. While Eagle was lost in his self misery Alex was enjoying himself maybe a little too much.

"Come on Eagle. I'm positive that the owner of these cards wouldn't appreciate it." Alex said.

"Fine. But I don't understand how you knew about my pants trick." Eagle thought for a moment. "Unless you were looking at my pants." Eagle said suggestively

Alex raised his eyebrows. "Sorry but I've already gone through that phase Eagle. You'll have to find someone else. And anyway I'm sure you could get in trouble, after all I'm a minor." Alex said much to the surprise of Fox.

"What do you mean you've already gone through that phase? Alex, what aren't you telling me?" Fox complained.

"Maybe later Fox. I'm sure that Eagle wants to bombard me with questions at the moment."

"Is that an invitation?" Eagle asked.

"No, it's a way to get out of Fox's questioning. Because no offence but I think that his interrogation is much worse than yours."

Wolf snorted, an unusual emotion for him. Everyone looked at him.

"What?"

"Why did you snort like that?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"Because you don't know Eagle."

"I'm sure I'll be just fine." Alex said confidently.

"We'll see." Wolf said.

Most of the people had gone and the money was already exchanged so Alex and K-Unit started back to the cabin.


	6. Reality

It was dark outside when they made it outside. Alex looked up and could see that stars. He had never noticed before but by living in the city the star light was dimmed in comparison to the beauty of it now. The crickets were chirping and it was a regular evening. Even though it was as it was supposed to be Alex didn't feel right. He had to admit he did have an enjoyable evening and if he was being completely honest he would have admitted he had had fun.

Eagle and Kudu were jumping on each others backs like teenagers. One part of Alex wished he could act like that. Hell, he should be acting like that. He shouldn't be here and he shouldn't have done the things he did. But Alex didn't have it in him to regret what he did or saw. It was part of who he was. All the things that happened made him who he was, good and bad. He didn't know what he regretted yet. But he did know that this was the place to be to help him get through everything.

"And then she was like 'Zach I can't believe you didn't call me for three weeks! We are so over!' And I honestly didn't care she was getting annoying anyway. Like she was too clingy." Eagle was currently telling Kudu and Wolf of his latest girlfriend, and imitating her voice quite well. Alex couldn't help but over hear. But he wished to God that he could have helped it.

"And this is Stacey, right? Not Tansy?" Asked Kudu, Alex had a feeling that he already knew but he wanted Snake to hear because he had a puzzled look on his face. And he also suspected that Kudu wanted to torture Alex more.

"No, Tansy is the one that I met after Stacey left and then I went to the bar because there was this really hot girl and I wanted to hook up but then I met Tansy and we hit off. And then we went back to her apartment. The rest is history…and maybe future too." Eagle explained, finishing off cheekily.

"Eagle! There's a little kid here. And I don't think he needs to be listening to your latest conquests." Fox said, playfully pretending to cover Alex's ears.

"He needs to learn sometime Fox. And he's lucky if I'm the one to teach him. But Alex," Eagle began earnestly, "just because I get so lucky in bed doesn't mean that everyone does."

"Eagle, you don't need to worry. I've already had experience that I found quite educational." Alex said mysteriously. "But with all your experience…does that make you a man whore?" Alex asked innocently.

Kudu looked at Alex in surprise. After a moment of silence everyone started laughing.

"Finally, a word that describes Eagle!" Kudu said.

Snake was still laughing when he said. "He's got you there Eagle. You have to admit that it's a good one."

"I will admit no such thing. And before you say anything I'm not being a sore loser. I just think that jokes are supposed to be funny."

Alex grinned, "No one said anything about being a sore loser Eagle. That might just be your conscience saying something to you. Maybe you should listen to it. And you're right jokes are supposed to be funny. But that wasn't a joke because actions speak louder than words."

They were almost back to the hut when they all realized that they were having a good time. All of them were comfortable with each other now and it had only been two days. It helped that K-Unit trusted Fox and that Fox trusted Cub and that Wolf had some amount of respect for when Cub pushed him out of the plane and for what he had seen at Point Blanc. It also helped that Eagle now had respect for Cub for beating him in cards and he still didn't know how he did it. But what helped the most was that Cub needed to have a good time and to relax. That is probably what scared Alex the most. And all of a sudden they were all back to where they began. With Alex hostile and unsure but not really showing it. And with K-Unit insulted because of Alex's attitude and being stuck with him.

Alex knew this was unacceptable. He could not get attached to these people. Because he would probably be leaving soon. Or just when he was beginning to get settled in something bad would happen. He could not handle the hurt of people leaving him again. It would just be too much and you never know what someone might do when things got too much.

Fox felt something change in the way Alex was walking. He tensed up and his face closed off. Fox knew what was going on in Alex's head and knew that he had to figure it out for himself. He hadn't gotten through what he had if he had just given up.

The rest of the walk was in silence, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

They all went to sleep that night without much trouble. Alex as usual woke up in the middle of the night and started meditating. But for the life of him he couldn't concentrate. This had never happened to him before, usually his meditation was a sanctuary that he could go to get away but right now all he wanted to do was think about what was going on and how he was feeling. Alex knew that to suppress those thoughts and feelings would be bad but he ignored his intuition. After an hour and a half Alex decided to try and get some more sleep.

That morning Alex woke up before everyone else. Last night he had gotten a glimpse of what it would be like to have friends, if not a family. But it was impossible. Alex would never allow himself to put the people he cared for in danger. That train of thought just made more for Alex to think about. Did he care about K-Unit? Where they permanent or temporary? At this time Alex couldn't let himself get close to people. Who knew when MI6 would ship him off to another mission. It was at times like these that he wished he believed in something. God or Buda or Satan, anything. Alex had never really thought about a higher being. He didn't understand how a person or god would just sit by and watch while people were dying and suffering. That's what people were here for, not a god.


	7. Sunshine Rain

Alex Rider had been in the SAS camp for three weeks. After he realized that he couldn't get attached to these men he threw himself into his training and schoolwork. Everyday, except Sundays, Alex would wake up at five-thirty. Each morning everyone would have to run five miles. It didn't matter what time, but it had to be done before breakfast ended at seven-thirty. Alex would be done running at six, get his schedule and then meditate until breakfast.

The day would go on and Alex would keep up with everything everyone threw at him. Mostly everyone, except a few, wanted him out. Despite what people expected, Alex excelled in everything he did.

Besides that day at the shooting range Alex didn't see Blunt, but Mr. Blunt saw plenty of Alex. Blunt got reports on Alex every three days. At MI6 Blunt and Jones were working at keeping whoever was trying to kill Alex away. But not as hard as they could have. Blunt saw no reason to remove Alex or to take a step in removing him when Alex was gaining more skill.

On Sunday of the third week it rained. Not the cloudy, gray, sunless rain that usually happened; but a rain where the sky was blue and the sun shining. If there was anything in the world Alex loved anymore it was this kind of rain.

"Where are you going? It's Sunday, we don't have anything." Kudu asked, barely awake.

"It's raining out." Was all Alex said when he walked out the door.

When Alex was little he always imagined that he was an ordinary little boy. One who had a mom and dad, more that one uncle and some aunts, grandparents who spoiled him with candy, and cousins who ran around with him on holidays. This little boy lived in a red brick house surrounded by tall grass. This little boy's mother worked in the garden and when he looked out his window in the morning he would see her in her yellow sunhat and blue gloves. He would run downstairs, still in his pajamas, and run to her. She would see him coming and wipe the dirt off onto her clothes and open her arms. He would jump into them, burry his head in her neck and smell her, just smell her. She didn't wear perfume unless it was a special occasion, but she smelled like his mom. She would put him down, look at his pajamas and ask him what on earth he was thinking, running out with his pajamas on. He would laugh and run back into the house with his mother chasing him.

He would sit down at the kitchen table where he drew with his colors; sometimes on paper, sometimes on the table itself. His legs would be swinging back and forth and he would think about the day his feet would finally touch the floor. Some days he would slouch down until he was falling out of his chair, but the tips of his toes would be touching the floor and he would grin and sit up straighter in his chair, knowing that he was almost there. His mom would turn around with a smile on her face, breakfast in her hands and dirt still on her clothes, pretending she had no idea what he had just been doing.

They would sit down and Alex would talk about how he was going to be an astronaut one day and a mail man the next. His mother would sit there and listen, sometimes asking questions. He would have two helping and when he would get up form the table he would pretend he had a huge belly and could barely walk.

This little boy had a dog name Rex. They would play all day in that long grass and when they got tired they would use the last of their energy to run up the hill hend the red brick house. On the hill this little boy and his dog would lay there and look at the clouds trying to see shapes.

They would stay up there until they heard the car coming, then they would run down the hill and make it to the bottom to see a man getting out of the car. The man would see the two and smile, the little boy would run faster and yell "Daddy!" he would make it to the man and be swung around like a plain. Rex would be barking and jumping up and down. The little family would sit down for dinner and talk.

Once a week father and son would go up to the hill and lay out with their hands behind their heads. The little boy's daddy would tell him stories about when he was growing up and show him the constellations. On some nights his mommy would come too and they would all lay out there. The little boy would all lie out there. The little boy would sometimes see his mommy and daddy looking at each other with little smiles on their faces. That would make him happy.

"What the hell are you doing out here?"

**So I know I said I was going to stop this story, but I've been writing and I have about five chapters done. So I'm not done yet. Please review.**


	8. Impulses

Kudu had fallen back asleep after Cub left. At seven o'clock when everyone was waking up he remembered what had happened he checked to see if Cub was back in, he wasn't. Kudu shrugged, not caring, but still curious.

On Sundays breakfast lasted until ten, so the tired units could sleep in. As usual K-Unit got to breakfast at seven-thirty. K-Unit walked in, expecting to see cub as usual but instead found an empty chair. Not feeling very worried, Wolf led his unit to get their food and sat down at their table. Snake pulled out a book and started eating and reading at the same time.

"What are you reading, Snake?" Asked Eagle while inhaling his food.

"Nothing you'd be interested in." Snake told him without even bothering to look up.

"Are you insulting my intelligence? Because I'll have you know I am just as smart as anyone in this room"

"I never said that you weren't smart, I didn't even imply it. I just said you wouldn't be interested." Snake said, finally looking up at Eagle.

"You know for someone so smart he doesn't really have self confidence." Kudu muttered to Fox.

"How will you ever know if I'm interested or not if I don't know what you're reading?" Asked Eagle, not hearing the side conversation going on between Fox and Kudu.

"Oh, so you're interested in how the brain adapts to different life styles in a short amount of time?" Snake asked him right back.

"Errr…Yes, I find that sort of thing…interesting." Eagle said lamely.

"Oh, really? You want me to led you the book after I'm done with it?" Asked an innocent looking Snake.

"No!" Eagle almost yelled, "It's alright, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."

"Okay." Snake said, while sharing looks with Kudu and Fox.

The rest of breakfast passed uneventfully with a few arguments between Wolf and Eagle. Mainly about Wolf wanting Eagle to sit still.

"…And so then this thing jumped out at me. I thought it was a spider so I freaked out and all the cats were laughing and looking at me. And then I woke up." Eagle was telling his unit about the dream he had had last night.

"Speaking of dreams, where's Cub?" Asked Kudu. The rest of the unit exchanged glances.

"Dreams make you think of Cub?" Asked a slightly disgusted Wolf while Eagle was scooting away from Kudu on the bench.

"No, it's just earlier this morning I thought I was dreaming when Cub walked out of the cabin. I asked him where he was going and all he said something about rain. I fell back asleep and when I woke up I thought it was a dream, but now I'm not so sure." Kudu explained, slightly out of breath at the end.

"oh." There was a moment of silence while they were all processing what Kudu had said.

"you're weird." Snake told him.

"Yeah, okay." Kudu brushed it off, "Where's Cub?" He asked again.

"How do you expect us to know where he is?" Wolf asked grumpily.

"I don't know." Kudu said truthfully.

"Let's go look for him!" Eagle jumped up and down.

No, we have better things to do." Wolf grabbed him and shoved him back on the bench.

"Like what?" Asked kudu, who was up for the idea of going on an adventure.

"Fine, let's go." Wolf sighed, having not been able to think of something better.

In the Woods.

Jeffery Larsen had had many surprises in his seventy-five years of life. He had served in Special Ops right when he got out of high school and retired at the age of twenty-five after his arm got blown off. Gloria, his wife of forty years had died two years ago. That was about the time he went to the Senor Vice president to ask if he could come back and lice in the woods on the out-skirts of the camp that he had shed so much sweat and blood when he was younger. Despite it being a bad idea, he was allowed to stay. Ever since he had lived there, directing lost recruits back to the camp and filling his empty heart.

It was chance that he stumbled along a boy sitting on a rock lost in thought. Jeffery looked at him. He had a scar on his forehead and even though he only looked about thirteen something about the way he sat hunched on the rock made him look younger, almost vulnerable. Jeffery was so busy looking at the boy face that he just notice that the boy was dressed like a member of the training soldiers. That was surprise number two. He wasn't surprised though, when he saw tears running down the young boys face. The boy was handsome; he had strong cheek bones and a chin that had character. The crease between his eyebrows made him look older and weary. Jeffery couldn't determine the color of his eyes because they were closed but he could tell that they would be worth looking at. Tears were clinging to his chin. His hands were moving, almost like he couldn't keep then still. Other than that he wasn't moving a muscle. Hating to disturb him, but more than slightly curious, he said, "What the hell are you doing out here?"

K-Unit.

The rain had stopped by the time K-Unit got out of the mess hall, and for once the sun was shining.

"Where do we start?" Asked Snake.

"Maybe we should split up?" Eagle suggested.

"No, because then when we find him we'll have to find everyone else too." Kudu said.

"So we just walk around?" Asked Eagle.

"I guess." Fox said, he doubted this would last long. Wolf would get impatient of Eagle would get bored.

They started looking, going back to the cabin and when Cub wasn't there, they headed to the lesson houses.

In the Woods.

Alex sat up and opened his eyes. They were glazed over and he had to blink a few times to bring them back to focus.

"My guardian died." The mysterious boy said quietly, like it was a novelty. Jeffery didn't know what to say, he had expected a smart ass kid who thought he was harder than he was.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Alex sighed. He looked at the old man. His eyes were light blue, eyes that had seen sadness and had gotten over it to find happiness, or at least contentment. His face had wrinkles and kindness in it. Surprisingly he was in shape; no beer belly or flabby neck. He was slightly stooped and he was missing an arm.

"I've got to go." Alex said, slowly standing up. As he was walking the old man cleared his throat. Alex turned.

"My wife died a while ago." He hesitated for a second, "I know you can't come back tomorrow or even any day except Sunday, but you can always come back. I have a house over that way." He pointed behind him.

Alex nodded and walked away. Jeffery didn't know what made him say that to a boy he didn't know but he didn't think he'd come to regret it.


	9. Smiling Is Good

It was a Friday, five days since he had seen the strange old man. Alex didn't know why he had told the man that Jack had died. There was something in the man's eyes that made him believe that the man needed someone just as much as Alex did. He didn't know if he would go back to that spot on Sunday. Alex had been distracted all week, thinking about what to do. His gut was yelling at him to go but his brain was screaming at him to stay. What do you do when your gut and brain are telling you to do different things?

"You listen what your heart is telling you to do." Said a voice behind Alex. Alex turned around and saw Wolf standing in the doorway of their cabin.

"What?"

"You asked what to do when your gut and brain are telling you to do different things. I answered your question." Wolf was looking at Alex curiously.

"I didn't realize I had spoken out loud." Alex told him truthfully. Then he thought over Wolf's advice. For someone who didn't have a lot of cuddly feelings he gave good advice.

"Thanks Wolf, that helps me a lot." Alex told Wolf with a small smile. Wolf watched as Alex left the cabin with a new energy to his step. For the first time in a long time Wolf stood where he was. The smile Cub had given him had been small but it was real, the first real smile Wolf had seen. That was how K-Unit found Wolf standing by the door with his brow furrowed.

"What are you doing" Asked Fox. The whole unit was staring at wolf, waiting for an answer.

"Cub just smiled at me." Wolf said. There was a moment of silence before Snake started chuckling.

"I thought he had a spring in his step. Maybe Cub is growing on you Wolf. Watch your self; Cub might decide you're a good role model." Eagle said while laughing at Wolf's expense. Eagle decided to play along with Wolf's little joke.

"If that happened then the world would be ending." Snake said, going along with Eagle.

"You know I've always wondered who I would call if the world was about to end." Eagle said thoughtfully.

"I'm not kidding you twats, Cub really did smile at me." Wolf protested.

"It's alright Wolf, we know you're tell the truth." Eagle said, even though his tone spoke differently.

"Eagle! I'm serious. Cub smiled at me, it was small, but it was still a smile."

"Cub hasn't showed a real genuine smile since he's been here. Why would we believe that he smiled at you of all people?" Fox asked, "No offence, of course."

"I don't know, but we can ask him tomorrow. I know what I saw and I'm not going to let this drop." Wolf said, his voice firm.

"Alright wolf, whatever you say." Kudu said in a voice used to placate a child.

"Let's just go to dinner, maybe Cub is still there." Snake interrupted before Wolf said anything to Kudu. Although he doubted Cub would still be there.

Just as Snake had suspected they didn't see Cub at dinner.

"He has his school lessons to do. And he's usually late getting back from them. Should we wait until the morning?" Eagle asked, thinking that he didn't want to stay up half the night waiting for Cub.

"Yeah, I don't want to stay up that late, I'd be dead on my feet if I did that." Snake agreed, with Fox nodding his consent beside him.

"Fine." Said Kudu. He had really wanted to prove Wolf wrong.

"Alright." Wolf said slowly. He had really wanted to prove Kudu that he was right.

"Then it's agreed. When we see Cub tomorrow we ask him about this little development." Eagle bounced away, not waiting to see if the rest of the unit would follow.

By the time Alex was done with his lessons and got back to the cabin, the rest of his unit was asleep. Kudu was half lying down and half sitting up, a position that wouldn't help his back or neck in the morning. After finishing his homework Alex dutifully did his meditations and hoped that he wouldn't have any nightmares that night.

As usual Alex was up before K-Unit. He went off to start the morning run. After his run he went to take a shower instead of going straight to breakfast like he usually did.

"He's still not her!" Eagle complained, the suspense was starting to get to him.

"Well kitchen duty said he hadn't been here yet and his log said that he already did his run so he should be here soon. He usually never misses meals if he can help it." Snake told him.

Well I don't think he's going to come." Eagle said stubbornly just as the door opened and Cub walked in. "Kidding." He added quickly.

"Alright, just act normal and then slowly bring the conversation around to smiling." Wolf instructed them. The rest of them nodded their faces serious but their eyes excited.

"Hello." Cub said while he sat down at the table with a tray in his hand.

"Cub! We haven't seen you in a long time, since our last exercise." Eagle said, earning a long look from Cub and a hard kick in the shin from Fox.

"Yeah, I had to hurry and eat dinner so I could get to my lessons and you guys were sleeping when I came in and still sleeping when I left for the morning exercise." Cub paused, "Just like every other day."

"Er, yeah." Eagle said. That kick was going to leave a bruise.

Kudu cracked his neck and grimaced slightly. Cub smirked; he knew Kudu was paying for his sleeping last night.

Snake changed the subject, talking about a new medical book that was just published.

Hearing you talk about those medical books you love always makes me smile." Kudu said, stressing the last word.

Underneath the table Eagle and Kudu high fived.

"Didn't you tell us one day that you read in your medical book it takes fewer muscles to smile that to frown?" Eagle asked.

Snake looked at him and then his eyes widened, "Oh yeah, I remember that."

"Yes, well, let's all smile!" Kudu said, looking around at everyone with a smile on his face.

Wolf looked at him and rolled his eyes. So much for normal he thought.

Kudu and Eagle started smiling. Eagle turned to look at Fox and smiled wider; when he didn't start smiling Eagle kicked him in the shin. Fox's smile looked more like a grimace. Eagle's smile got bigger, if that was at all possible. While Fox and Eagle were having a moment Kudu and Snake were having their own brotherly fight of wills. Snake gave in easily because he wanted to see where all this smiling was going to lead to. By now everyone except Wolf and Alex were smiling.

"Wolf! Uhh…never mind." Kudu thought better of trying to make Wolf smile. "Come on Cub, smile with us." Kudu encouraged Cub.

"No thanks, I don't feel like smiling." He knew something was going on and he didn't want to be part of it at all.

"But you felt like smiling last night?" Eagle asked and Cub knew that he had walked right into their plan.

"What?" Then Cub remembered he had smiled at Wolf last night. Trying to change the subject he said, "You do realize how perverted that sounded?"

"You know that's not what I meant." Eagle said, "Honestly, you need to get your head out of the gutter."

"He was talking about when you smiled at Wolf last night." Kudu inserted helpfully.

"Oh that, yeah I guess I did feel like smiling then or else I wouldn't have done it." Cub shrugged carelessly.

"So you did smile at him? Wolf wasn't imagining that?" Kudu asked quickly.

"Yeah…?" Cub half said, half asked.

"Damn it!" Fox and Kudu said. They both put money on the table which eagle and Snake split evenly, grinning at each other.

"Wait, you bet money that I didn't smile at Wolf?" Cub asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, you don't smile often Cub, so when Wolf was stupefied about you smiling at him we could barely believe it." Fox informed him.

"I smile though, not often, but I do smile." Cub said.

"No you don't." Wolf finally said something.

The rest of the unit nodded in agreement with what Wolf said. But before Cub could say anything back the siren rang, telling them that they had to get to their next exercise.

The rest of the day passed quickly for everyone but Cub. During Swim Safety the water made him think of rain, which made him think of meeting the old man in the forest. During Medical Training they were learning about the heart and that made him think about Wolf's advice, which made him think about the old man he met in the woods. During the shooting range session it reminded him that Jack was dead, which reminded him of the old man he met in the woods. It seemed that everything went back to the old man. So when Alex went to sleep that night, he dreamt of the old man he met in the woods.

**So that's it. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Please review. Thanks and I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. (:**


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